The BORSALINO BROTHERHOOD

[Forciori]

Dear Steur,

Thank you so much for your kind welcome and your detailed response. I deeply appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise. If I may, I have a couple of follow-up questions that I hope you'll indulge.

Firstly, I apologize if I missed it, but could you explain which specific details in the label helped you identify the brown hat as being from 1972-1976? I'm eager to learn more about these identifying characteristics.

Secondly, and I hope this isn't too basic a question, but regarding date labeling: my red Borsalino is from 1999, as shown on its label. Do you happen to know when Borsalino began including production years on their labels? For instance, given that my gray hat's label style was used from 1984 onwards, I'm curious if the presence or absence of a date might help narrow down its production period.

I'm particularly grateful for the information about the Marque Grand Luxe designation. It certainly explains the exceptional quality of the felt. The chamois/velour finish you mentioned is truly remarkable - I've never felt anything quite like it.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and for being so welcoming to a newcomer like myself.

Kind regards.

Welcome to the lounge and the brotherhood. Nice show of hats. The brown one in mahogany (magano) colour is from the early seventies. These labels were in use from 1972 until 1976. The grey one is harder to date because the label is in use from 1984 to this day. But eighties or nineties is probably right.
The brown hat is an Marque Grand Luxe hat, which were of exceptional felt quality and usually with a chamois or velour finish. Not beaver if the hat doesn't say so, but nevertheless felt of the highest quality.

 

[steur]

Dear Steur,

Thank you so much for your kind welcome and your detailed response. I deeply appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise. If I may, I have a couple of follow-up questions that I hope you'll indulge.

Firstly, I apologize if I missed it, but could you explain which specific details in the label helped you identify the brown hat as being from 1972-1976? I'm eager to learn more about these identifying characteristics.

Secondly, and I hope this isn't too basic a question, but regarding date labeling: my red Borsalino is from 1999, as shown on its label. Do you happen to know when Borsalino began including production years on their labels? For instance, given that my gray hat's label style was used from 1984 onwards, I'm curious if the presence or absence of a date might help narrow down its production period.

​

I'm particularly grateful for the information about the Marque Grand Luxe designation. It certainly explains the exceptional quality of the felt. The chamois/velour finish you mentioned is truly remarkable - I've never felt anything quite like it.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and for being so welcoming to a newcomer like myself.

Kind regards.

What we know of the production of Borsalinos comes from cataloguing all the labels of the hats posted here and elsewhere and comparing the type of label to the dates that are on some of the hats (usually behind the sweatband - German hatshops seemed to do this routinely). All the colours, finishes, models and cell types can be found in this post:
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/the-borsalino-brotherhood.13133/post-3148409

For a while we thought that the first two digits op the number upper right of the modern labels, like the one below corresponded with the year of production.

This turned out not to be true. If there is any clue to the year of production in this code, we haven't figured out how that would work. So other than a separate label, receipt or pricetag with a date on it on the red hat, the production year of 1999 can't be deducted from this label.

The label on the brown hat is of the "rounded label with the colour name" type:

We know this only to appear from 1972 until 1976. After that the dateable labels turn up, where the first two numbers in the upper right do correspond with the production year. Recognizable by the hyphen between the first numbers and the rest of them. Like this:

The lasted from 1976 until 1983. No earlier or later examples have been documented.

So in short (or rather long) there is no way to narrow down the production year of the grey one further. Some would hazard a guess based on the style of the hat, but I would say that is about as reliable as using a dowsing rod. Borsalino keeps some of its mysteries to itself...